Summer, 2060 June 22, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Green in the City , add a commentWhen I was a child, in Auckland, my grandmother had a passionfruit vine climbing the rails beside the steps to her front door. I remember sultry summer evenings, cat’s melting in the humidity, hibiscus and the song of cicadas. I love that balmy sub-tropical weather. The low 30s (Celsius) are the way summers ought to be.
Looking at the new projections for London’s climate later this century, it really doesn’t sound too bad. If I get to spend my old age in the climate of my childhood, while staying here in London, I’ll be quite happy. It sounds like the sea may even be a lot closer (or at least the Thames rather wider).
And perhaps this is why its so hard to get anyone to understand the urgency of the situation we face. If London is like Auckland, that’s not so bad, even if the tube floods, and the capital decamps to Leeds (the suggestion that the industrial revolution was a Yorkist plot is one of the more bizarre, and best, I’ve heard lately. It’s worth spreading:-) )
But if our summer temperatures rise by 4-5 degrees, people in the South will be dying in their millions. There will be no more ice, and the sea level will rise inexorably. Those who can least cope will be most effected. Having done so little to reduce the risk of global warming, our government seems to have quietly moved to an ‘adapt’ strategy. That may be realistic, but is there really no way to motivate people to cut down their energy use and address the problem that’s staring us in the face?
What will it take to make us realise the ferocious urgency of today?
Ibsen’s The Doll’s House June 8, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a commentThis isn’t a review, just a few notes. Isn’t that what blogging is supposed tobe?
I was rapt to get tickets to the Donmar’s production of Ibsen’s The Dolls House. With Gillian Anderson starring, its been a sellout for weeks. The view was much better than expected from right up the top, by the side (C44). A bargain at £15, even if I saw Christopher Ecclestone’s back a lot more than his face.
So much of this rings true now, and even the final scene, when Nora leaves her husband (sorry for spoiler, but it is a classic) still packs a tremendous punch. What must it have been like in the late 19th century? Even by today’s standards, Nora is a strong, determined character, and how many of us hang on with arrogant men who think they have property rights?
What’s Christine doing taking back her long-rejected lover, even though he’s a scoundrel and a loser? Compassion for a drowning man? Undoing a deeply regretted decision? Or still just surviving?
This is a very unusual play. I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman in the theatre leave her husband, not for another man, but for herself. Women do it all the time, but its not a story often told. How far have we come in 100 years?
Certainly the theme of debt as a destroyer of homes and peace of mind is a very current one, as is the political intrigue. And secrets, secrets are poison.
Gillian Anderson is well worth the sellout – she’s excellent. And stunningly beautiful. Its a star-studded cast, with Toby Stephens as Thomas, the husband.
They’ve set it in 1909 in London, rather than 1870s Norway, and its a new translation. I’ve not seen it before, so no comparison. It works well in that setting.
Well worth seeing if you get the chance. It plays at the Donmar until 18 July, and there are day seats and standing tickets available.
Okay, I’m just paranoid June 4, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentBlimey! I had a reply from Transport for London about their threats to send photos of anyone using their help points to the police. It turns out that they were just trying to stop people pushing the buttons and shouting. Fair enough I guess, especially when some regulation probably stops station staff just giving the little gobshites an earful.
From Transport For London:
King’s Cross station has been suffering from the misuse of the Help Points in operation there, with abusive shouting down the line getting to be a regular event. I’ve spoken with the station supervisor there who confirmed that officers from British Transport Police will attend and try to apprehend offenders, but unfortunately not always in time. As the Help Points are covered by CCTV, occasional warnings are made specifically directed at culprits caught on camera, that footage will be passed on to the police.
I’m sorry if it was not made clear to whom the announcements were directed and if this caused you any concern. I can only apologise and confirm that these announcements are directed at individuals rather than the public at large, and that CCTV footage is only passed on to the police when an offence has been committed.
Polygon Rd Outdoor Gym June 2, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Green in the City , 1 comment so farA mysterious outcrop has appeared in Polygon Road Open Space in the middle of Somers Town. It started a couple of weeks ago with a fence, then a circle appeared in the ground. Mysterious aliens? By Wednesday morning, a dozen strange machines wrapped in plastic had grown out of the circle, and it seems we are acquiring an Outdoor Gym.
A playground for (more-or-less) grown-ups, it might even encourage me away from my computer and into some exercise. Unlike ordinary gyms, where I tend to sign up for a year and go twice, it’s free. I suspect that an initiative like this could do more to improve local health than all the high-tech medical research labs ever proposed.
I’m going to ask the council if they have any plans to organise around it, as I don’t remember seeing a ‘consultation’ on the subject. Perhaps a scheme to train people to be personal trainers, or to run exercise classes? Or maybe a grassroots initiative would be a better idea. Are there any other forty-something ladies out there who fancy setting up our own Saturday morning gym session?
Judging by the children playing on the, as yet still wrapped, equipment yesterday, it will be popular. The council need to finish it off quickly, or local people will do it for them.
I’m not really paranoid, honest June 1, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden, Politics , 1 comment so farWalking through Kings Cross tube station yesterday, I heard the announcer say that anyone using the ‘help point’ would have their photo taken and passed to the British Transport Police.
So, if I’m a tourist, a bit lost, and press the button marked ‘Information’ to ask where to go, my photo is sent to the police??? I wonder what happens next? A posse of armed goons appear and shoot me for having the audacity to hope that the Victoria Line is actually working this weekend? More likely, my mugshot just ends up on some database somewhere, as the government attempts to track every citizen’s every move, swamping itself so utterly in spurious data that the real criminals slip underneath the chaos.
Certainly, this threatening announcement is hardly going to encourage anyone to use the facility. If there’s an emergency, it may even deter someone from raising the alarm.
There is no indication on the help point itself that this will happen, which is surely not legal.
I wonder what they do with it, and how long they keep it. It will be interesting to see if, and how, Transport for London, answer that question.
Hamlet, again May 25, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentFinally, I’ve been to Teatro Technis, a small Cypriot theatre is just up the road. I’m not quite sure how I’ve managed to be so remiss for so long, but it was worth the wait.
It’s brave of the semi-professional Tower Theatre Company to stage Hamlet in between the wonderful RSC / David Tennant production last Christmas and the Donmar’s version with Jude Law this summer but they’re clearly up to the task.
Paul Jacobs’ Hamlet is physical and expressive, perhaps with a nod to Tennant’s.
Ophelia is sometimes a bit wishy-washy, and certainly wasn’t particularly note- worthy in the RSC production, but here Haidee Elise gives us a forceful tragic figure whose anger and frustration with Hamlet’s rejection of her is deeply moving.
Elise is listed as a costume designer in previous Tower productions, and I wonder if she had a hand in the beautiful costume she wears after Polonious’ death, as she goes mad with grief. All the costumes are sumptuously designed, albeit clearly on a budget – Edwardian dress with a twist of colour patched onto dark suits.
To keep to time, scenes with Fortinbras are removed, and the players much reduced. Combined with a Claudius who’s anger is barely controlled, the political aspects of the story are given much less emphasis and this Hamlet is more simply the family tragedy.
I saw the last night of this, on 23 May, so it’s too late to recommend it. This is the second play I’ve seen by the Tower Theatre Company. I expect there will be many more.
Dido, Queen of Carthage May 3, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentPerhaps I should be grateful that my first Shakespeare was Macbeth, not the Taming of the Shrew. If this play is anything to go by, there’s a good reason that Shakespeare is venerated as the greatest English playwright, while Christopher Marlowe is an Elizabethan curiosity, occasionally staged for historical interest. Dido, Queen of Carthage was Marlowe’s first play, probably written for a company of boy actors.
The story is based on book 4 of the great Roman epic, the Aeneid. Aeneas, lost at sea after fleeing Troy, finds himself shipwrecked on the shores of the newly-built city of Carthage. Manipulated by the gods, he and the Carthaginian Queen fall in love. Eventually he is pushed to his senses by Jove and leaves for Italy, allowing his descendents to found Rome, and eventually destroy Carthage. She never regain hers, and kills herself.
Marlowe’s Dido is a pathetic creature, absolutely enslaved to her love for Aeneas, giving him her kingdom, re-rigging his ships and then taking the rigging away to prevent him escaping. Even in her seduction of him, she is annoying. Would a mighty queen be so surprised when he fell for her? At least Virgil has her consider the political implications of the alliance, when her sister tells her that Aeneas would be a useful ally.
The cast do a better job than the play deserves, although Anastasia Hille as Dido does occasionally overplay it, and the agonising about Aeneas’ departure became tedious after a while, but that’s the material she had to work with. Mark Bonnar (last seen as Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night) is a fine Aeneas, genuinely torn between his love of Dido and his duty to his destiny.
Unfamiliar Elizabethan verse isn’t always easy to follow, but there was no difficulty understanding the cast and keeping concentration through this three-hour production. Even the extended Latin quotes from the Aeneid were well-spoken (at least as far as I could tell from dim sixth form memories).
The manipulative gods, playing out their own games with the mortals below, are wonderfully surreal. Siobhan Redmond as Venus and Susan Engel as Juno are disdainfully cruel, completely inconsiderate of the humans despite Venus’ supposed concern for her son.
It was worth seeing for curiousity’s sake, not a bad evening out, but perhaps a minority interest.
Dido, Queen of Carthage plays at the National Theatre until 2 June 2009. Seat C17, in the second row, gave an excellent view.
What’s blowing in March 9, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : renewable energy , add a commentReading on the wind power industry:
The Guardian reports that the British Wind Energy Association is looking to the government for support, while the City predicts a decline of 20% in the industry this year.
Trials based in Warwick suggest that small turbines attached to buildings aren’t very useful, and that the standard data for wind strength across the UK probably overestimates. They’re keen to point out that this doesn’t apply windfarms in suitable locations or offshore, and suggest that there’s a lot of work to be done on improving an immature industry.
Two of the largest wind companies, American Clipper Windpower and WPD, are bidding to build a very large windfarm off the coast of Hastings. At 1.35GW, it will be as large as the entire installed capacity of the UK was as recently as October 2005. 10MW turbines are very big indeed, and interesting to see they’re planning to design them in the UK.
And a useful list of engineering topics to swot up on before I embark on this course.
Flotsam March 8, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentThe stuff that washed up from the ocean of media
End Games, by Michael Dibden – This will be the very last story of Italian detective Aurelio Zen, since the sad demise of the author just after it was published. Conspiracy and murder in Calabria, would be good holiday reading if you’re down that way.
Spooks, Series three – Improbable, but gripping. In one episode the team resort to torture, with much angst and self justification, which seems unlikely. Surely they’d just ship them off to one of our less squeamish ‘allies’?
Some good ideas for designing systems (computer or otherwise) to reduce the number of errors users make.
An oil-industry insider’s view on Peak Oil, suggesting that the recent collapse in oil prices is just a short term reaction to general market collapse, and that fundamentals of supply and demand mean that it must rise again soon. You need to go to the last slide to see a very surprising conclusion from a Houston-based oil analyst!
A few thoughts on the Convention on Modern Liberty March 2, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Politics , 2 commentsWell over 1000 people in a lecture theatre in Bloomsbury, all ready to give up a Saturday because they’re worried about the erosion of civil liberties has got to be a good sign. We might be frogs in a pan of water heating slowly, to quote a metaphor used by a number of speakers, but some have noticed.
There are lots of Liberal Democrats, Tories, and even a few Greens, but very few Labour types. I guess that’s not a surprise. Sir David Varney, the Prime Minister’s adviser on Public Service Transformation, and an advocate of inter-departmental data-sharing, is a brave man just for turning up and being willing to appear on a panel.
Helena Kennedy talked about the problem of the politicisation of criminal justice, turning it into a contest of toughness. It always amazes me that politicians feel they have a right to comment on specific cases here, though at least that obnoxious business of the Home Secretary setting the tariff in high-profile cases has disappeared.
I went to the Tory panel in the morning, partly to see Phillip Blond, and partly out of sheer curiosity about the party which will probably be the government soon, and about which I know almost nothing. Apparently they see the essential difference on liberty between themselves and Liberals to be that they believe people are born with freedoms, whereas Liberals believe people take liberties from a state which grants them. Not sure about that, but its an interesting thought. If its true, I may just be a Tory. Surely not??
Sadly Phillip Blond, of Red Toryism fame, didn’t get much chance to speak. His ideas of communitarianism are interesting, though I’d hate to be reliant on my local community if, for instance, it thought women should live ‘traditional lives’, or didn’t like gay people too much. And I’ve not seen anything from him that explains how we get from here to his ideal.
Phillip Pullman is a delightful speaker, though the climate change deniers in the comments to the blogged transcript I’ve linked to just go to show that this issue attracts a very wide spectrum. His virtues a nation needs sound right, particularly the courage to act kindly when afraid. Fear of terrorist attack, of being seen to be weak, of failure, has made our government very unkind lately. I love the idea of modesty for a nation and the thought that ‘a modest kingdom would have to think for a moment or two whether or not it was a republic, because its royal family would be small, and its members would be allowed to spend most their time in useful and interesting careers as well as being royal, and because their love affairs would remain their own business; and people would always be glad to see them cycling past.’ This reminds me why I wasn’t much of a republican when in New Zealand, but have become more so since coming to the UK. In New Zealand, the monarchy is far away and holds little interest for most people, and having a head of state that is little more than a nice theory works well for a small country. The country can get on with its business without having to worry about all the paraphenalia that goes with monarchy, unelected chambers, odd bits of unlikely privilege floating around.
The Bloggers summit panel included Ben Goldacre, who is always worth listening to for good sense and entertainment. Perhaps he could sort out Public Service Transformation. Or at least become Minister for Health.
Written constitutions keep coming up. I’m not so sure about that. Who would write it? How would we get to agree it? Britain in 2009 is hardly the US in 1776, or even South Africa in 1996. I suspect it would be good if we had one, but getting from here to there doesn’t seem likely. And it didn’t stop the Americans from introducing the Patriot Act, now did it?
There are a lot of people here that I normally wouldn’t have anything much to do with. In some ways that’s interesting, but some of them are rather further to the right than I’m comfortable with. Still, that’s the point, isn’t it.
The final panel, on ‘How Do We Secure Modern Liberty’ was interesting, but didn’t seem to get very far. The LibDems are putting up a bill to repeal all the obnoxious legislation, and the Tories claim they’ll do similar if they get in next time – I hope someone has that on tape. Will Hutton thinks we should all keep arguing, which seems about all that can be done. There were lots of yellow cards around, encouraging people to pledge action, but few ideas on what that action might be.
Some thoughts on action:
Familiarise yourself with, and protest against the dodgy bits of, the Coroners and Justice Bill, and the new communications bill when (and if) it is published.
Don’t register your oyster card. Why do they need to know where you’re travelling?
Get an email account somewhere other than your isp. The new communications bill is going to struggle to convince google to release records of gmail transactions, I suspect.
Get a good understanding of how to use the internet in privacy. There are some good tips on Spy Blog (bottom left) and Global Voices published a good guide for bloggers. Do remember that nothing is infallible though.
It might be worthwhile if a large number of ostensibly random people started doing the sorts of things that are now stupidly illegal such as photographing policemen to waste time and hopefully convince police and the government that there are better ways of dealing with their fears
Consider the No2ID pledge, but remember that you’ll probably not be able to renew your passport
